Dante Inferno Canto 10 translated by D. B.

Gain
My master moves on down a narrow track
`twixt walls and suffering, I at his back.
"Great power that loves to lead through impious gyres,
Speak to me and satisfy my desires.
Are those in tombs ones that one could reveal?
The lids are off, with no guard to conceal".
"Returned here with the bodies of their birth
Which they once had when living on the earth,
From Jehoshaphat they`ll be prisoned for e`er".
So he. "The cemetery here is the share
Of Epicurus and of his allies,
Who say the soul dies when the body dies.
Hence that demand you choose now to unfold
To me right now will not be put on hold,
As too the hidden wish, as yet untold".
And I: "It`s never been my wish to hide
Aught save short talk is sweet ~ `tis undenied.
You`ve told me this more than once, noble guide".
"O Tuscan walking through this fire so vile
Yet still alive and speaking with such style,
`twould please me much if you`d stay here awhile.
Your speech proves clearly that you are a bard
From that fair town on which I was too hard".
A vault resounded with these words; to hide,
I drew a little closer to my guide.
My guide: "View Farinata; do not wait;
You`ll see him from the waist up, standing straight".
My eyes fixed on his face could see him well;
His chest and brow proclaimed disdain for hell.
My guide guided me past tombs to him there,
Saying: "Be sure to choose your words with care".
He viewed me near his tomb and said, "Your birth?"
`twas clear I`d filled this mean man`s mind with mirth.
In my desire t` oblige his mocking drawl
I held back nothing; yes, I told him all.
Brows lifted, he: "My fierce foes were not nice
To my fathers or friends; they paid the price;
I had to scatter them not once, but twice:.
I: "To return not once but twice. Their due?
They showed a skill that your men never knew".
Just then I looked at that tomb`s open ledge;
A kneeling Shadow`s head showed at its edge.
He rose and looked as if he hoped to see
If someone else, perhaps, had come with me.
Foiled, he wept:: "If skill that can never fail
Can carry you right now through this blind gaol,
Why is`t, when my son`s sought, `twill not avail?"
I: "My guide`s over there; I come not lorn.
`tis he perhaps your Guido held in scorn".
His name was clear from what I`d heard him ask
And made my pointed quip an easy task.
He sprang to his full height with clangent cries:
"The past tense 'held' you used implies 'he dies'.
Does day`s sweet light no longer strike his eyes?"
He viewed with dread my long delay before
I spoke and fell back, to be seen no more.
A great one`d bad me talk; he neither turned
Nor moved his head at this, quite unconcerned.
He picked up where he`d left: "To think those whom
You speak of lacked that skill gives greater gloom
Than comes from lying in this torrid tomb.
The face of the queen who reigns here will glow
Not more than fifty times before you know
How hard it is to come back when you go.
By your hope of return, why are the laws
Of other clans so much softer than yours?"
I: "Routs that reddened Arbia now smirch
Such prayers as we now utter in our church".
Head shaken, sighing: "Others had their flaws;
I`d not have joined the rest without good cause.
I saved Florence whom all voted to raze;
`twas I alone worsed all them with my gaze".
I to him in my turn: "Loose my mind`s knot;
So shall your future seed`s pain be forgot.
You all know well what future times allow,
If I am right, but know not what is now".
And he: "Th` Almighty makes the distant clear,
But dims our sight of everything that`s near.
When facts are close to us our mind is blank;
If we`d know you, `tis others we must thank.
Hence our poor minds will all be totally bare
When future`s open door is closed for e`er".
Then I, so saddened by what I`d done,
Spoke in my turn: "Please tell the fallen one
That life still counts among her bairns his son.
If asked why I was mute say I would solve
The point that you so clearly could resolve".
My master had begun to call me back;
I asked that spirit to make good my lack
And name for me all his tomb~sharing pack.
And he: "The cardinal and Frederick Two,
And thousands more, whose names are not for you".
He`s gone. I sought the bard and thought on those
Words, words which, methought, were prophetic foes.
As we went on he asked my every thought;
I told him what had made me so distraught.
The sage to me: "Make sure your mind`s well versed
In all words voiced against you, e`en the worst".
He raised his finger: "Sight of her sweet rays
(All things are open to her glorious gaze)
Shall surely guide you right in all your ways".
A left turn left the walls; we sought deep hell.
A vale, though deep, yet sickened with its smell.